The Great Escape

Situation puzzles (sometimes called lateral thinking puzzles) are ones where you need to ask lots of yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the situation. These are good puzzles for groups where one person knows the puzzle and answers the questions.

A Swiss woman was stuck at a Nazi checkpoint. There was a very long bridge at the border of Germany and Switzerland, but it took six minutes to cross. Observing the guard at the guardhouse, she found that he came out every three minutes to check that no one was trying to leave or enter. How did she manage to escape?

Hint

The guard`s orders were to send anyone back who didn`t have the correct papers.Hide

Answer

As soon as the guard reentered the guardhouse, she set out across the bridge. When she got halfway, she turned around, going back to Germany. When the guard saw her and waited for her to reach him, he saw she didn`t have the papers, so he sent her back to Switzerland, which is where she wanted to go.Hide